Satoshi Yabuuchi

A couple of years ago, Sento-kun, a half-deer, half-Buddha boy mascot, was chosen to represent the 1,300th anniversary of Japan's ancient capital being relocated to Nara. At first, the baby-faced boy with antlers (the deer is considered a sacred animal in Nara) was not well-received. Many found it ugly and disrespectful toward Buddha. Now, however, Sento-kun—designed by Satoshi Yabuuchi, a sculptor and professor at Tokyo University of the Arts—is being praised by Nara authorities for the amount of attention that he has brought to the city.
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